Four teachers with Regina Catholic high schools are heading back to the classroom this summer — and further afield — while learning about the Holocaust.

Ada Paez, who teaches history at Archbishop M.C. O’Neill High School, is among those joining a summer school course titled The Holocaust in History and Living Memory. It begins in Toronto before the group travels to Europe, where they’ll carry a personal letter by a Holocaust survivor to open while at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Paez, who has visited Dachau concentration camp in her own travels, knows the field trip will be overwhelming.

“You really feel history,” she said. “You cannot not be shocked … Even if you’ve seen it before, it’s still something that surprises you.”

Auschwitz, Poland: NAZI death camp.SUN

But it also presents an opportunity to put the classroom lessons into perspective — to learn more about social justice, recognize factors that contribute to genocide and hopefully prevent a repeat.

“It’s pretty important right now, especially since most of the survivors are disappearing on us,” added Paez. “It’s important that other people pick up the torch and learn, and then to share that with the students.”

Michelle Phair, also of O’Neill, is another of the teachers taking part, along with Milos Menhart (from Michael A. Riffel) and Patrick Reed (of Dr. Martin LeBoldus).

Phair, who teaches history and ethics, had an opportunity a few years back to hear a Holocaust survivor speak, and it furthered her interest and passion for sharing that part of history.

This week, they travel to Toronto to shadow a team of teachers from York Catholic School Division, who are delivering the interdisciplinary course to their students. Students and teachers leaveSaturday for two weeks in Germany and Poland. They’ll tour, reflect upon, and write about the concentration camps and memorials, the victims and survivors.

At Auschwitz, each participant will finally open the sealed, survivors’ letters.

“I’m tearing up just thinking about it,” said Phair. “To be in Auschwitz and have a letter that’s addressed to me from someone who survived that experience — it’s going to be so powerful.”

At some point, the teachers may also have an opportunity to meet some of the survivors who wrote the letters.

Phair recalled how in April, a Holocaust survivor was to visit Regina high schools, but passed away just prior to his arrival. Having created “a Holocaust museum experience” for her students in preparation for the visit, the students, in a very personal way, felt the loss and made a card for his family.

She hopes someday Regina students will get an experience similar to those in the Ontario course. The Regina teachers are working to develop a similar class.

In the meantime, lessons learned during this summer’s experience will also be incorporated into existing classes. Paez and Phair plan to blog about their experiences on getjealous.com.

Paez stressed the importance of educating the current generations.

“You don’t want to repeat it. It’s important for them to see when there’s a pattern. And there are patterns of genocide,” added Paez, also referencing genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda.

“We’re so far away from it, especially in Canada because we’re peaceful … We may forget it,” said Paez, who was born in Chile but grew up in France, where her parents moved as refugees.

She’s worried by some of the events unfolding in the U.S. and their relevance to patterns of racism and oppression seen before. “You have to pay attention,” she said.

Upon their return to Toronto, the students will participate in a symposium to share their projects and learning.

The Regina teachers will also take a four-day educator certificate course from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies.

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